Marine Debris

Marine Debris -- the man-made solid material entering coastal waters and estuaries -- is a ubiquitous, and visible, pollution problem that we see on our beach and shorelines. Not only a matter of trash, marine debris concerns how the trash gets there. The Marine Debris webinar series will begin to address what it is and what it's impact are, where it comes from, and what can be done to prevent it and clean it up from a national, regional, and local perspective.

The first webinar -- A Federal, State and Local Look into Opportunities for Action -- outlined different ways that the federal and state governments and nonprofits are couching the issue and trying to impact change.

The second webinar - International Coastal Cleanup and Urban Waters: Partnerships Making an Impact on Marine Debris - focused on the collaboration between federal agencies, nonprofits, and state and local entities to tackle the issue of marine debris.

Surabhi Shah of US EPA explained EPA's new Urban Water Initiative and how it connects to the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC). Sonya Besteiro and Leo Vianna provided an overview of the ICC and the importance of volunteer data collection as a component of the ICC. Finally, Frances Canonizado and Jamie Cross from the Alliance for the Great Lakes were joined with a Michigan coordinator, Chad Lahey. They discussed how state and local coordinators reach out to communities and individuals for paticiation in regular beach cleanups and events and such as the ICC.

The audio recordings from both sessions are posted below (as an mp3 file) along with the powerpoint slides (as pdf files).

You will need the free Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.

Marine Debris: A Federal, State and Local Look into Opportunities for Action
March 16, 2010.